president obama and the four top congressional leadersjohnboehner, nancypelosi, harry reid, mitch mcconnell all will begin talks at the white house. cnn's jill dougherty is following those developments for us this morning. she's in our washington, d.c. bureau. good morning, jill. >> hello, soledad. well, this is it. both sides are going to be there. they're looking at the tone. they're looking at the president, what kind of tone will he set? you have to say that they're coming in both sides with their essential positions intact. all, both sides are saying that there is some room for a compromise. so, the essential thing is how do you compromise? if you look at the positions, let's say, of the republicans, and it's most strongly, as i say, relayed by senator mitch mcconnell, he does not, and they do not, want any tax increases. so let's listen to him first. >> and let's be clear, an opening bid of $1.6 trillion of new taxes just isn't serious. it's more than simpson-bowles or any other bipartisan commission has called for. it's been unanimously rejected in the house and senate, it's t